Sowers situation mirrors Guthrie

[Gunther]

I found this article on Jeremy Sowers very interesting.

Indians: Sowers situation mirrors Guthrie
Published: Wednesday, January 20, 2010
By Jim Ingraham

Jeremy Sowers is this close to becoming the next Jeremy Guthrie.

Whether that is good or bad is open to debate, but for now, as it was with Guthrie a few years ago, the clock is ticking on Sowers.

That puts the Indians between a rock and a hard place.

On the one hand, Sowers, the Tribe's 26-year-old left-hander, is out of minor-league options. On the other hand, he's done very little to merit a spot on the Indians' opening-day roster.

So, as was the case with Guthrie — another failed pitcher named Jeremy selected by the Indians in the first round of the draft — the Indians this spring will have to make a decision on Sowers. Should they trade him or put him on waivers? Or should they keep him on the major-league staff and hope new pitching coach Tim Belcher can somehow fix whatever is wrong with the sixth overall pick in the 2004 June draft.

"We may reach the point,'' said Belcher, "where we have to decide whether there is a spot on our roster for Jeremy, or whether it's time for us to look elsewhere.''

The Indians reached that point with Guthrie in January of 2007. He was out of minor-league options and had accomplished very little at the major-league level.

Guthrie had a 6.08 ERA in 16 appearances with the Tribe from 2004-06. The Tribe put Guthrie on waivers, he was claimed by Baltimore, and he's been a 10-game winner for the hapless Orioles in each of the last two years.

Guthrie has been the No. 1 starter for Baltimore for most of the last three years. His record in those three years is just 27-34, but his 4.15 ERA is decent.

Sowers? There's no guarantee he'll even be on the Indians' opening-day pitching staff in 2010, much less in what role. During a conference call with reporters Tuesday, when asked about Sowers, Belcher initially said Sowers, who has been a starter his entire career, would first get a trial in the bullpen during spring training.

A few moments later, Belcher backtracked.

"I may have misspoke about Sowers,'' he said. "He's still a candidate to start, too. But the main thing is we want him to make our staff in some role. It could be as a starter or it could be in the bullpen. We don't know yet.''

Or, it could be Sowers doesn't make it at all.

After whetting everyone's appetite with a tantalizing 7-4 record and 3.57 ERA in 14 second-half starts as a rookie in 2006, Sowers has followed it up with three consecutive train-wreck seasons. In a combined 34 starts, plus one relief appearance, in the last three years, he is 11-26 with a 5.63 ERA.

"Jeremy made a fast climb through the minors, had some success initially at the big-league level, but has struggled since then,'' said Belcher. "That has happened to a number of young pitchers at the beginning of their careers. The key for him is getting command of his fastball, and being able to throw his secondary stuff for strikes.''

The problem for the Indians is they are nearing crunch time with Sowers, whose $2.475 million signing bonus is still the second-largest bonus ever given by the Indians to a drafted player.

They are either going to have to keep him and hope Belcher can help Sowers find the magic he had in his rookie year, or the Indians can "look elsewhere'' and trade or release Sowers, which would open the door for him to potentially have the best years of his career with another team.

SOURCE

 

[Damage]

Well Guthrie didn't have nearly as many chances as Sowers had. If I remember correctly, Guthrie was about 24 when he was drafted because of his religion.

 

[sjeppe]

The Indians need an overhaul like the Browns. We need to get rid of Shapiro and all the Player Scouting staff, everyone that choose players, bc our drafts suck and our development of young talent mostly has been worthless.

 

[AZ_]

our drafts suck and our development of young talent mostly has been worthless.

The drafts suck, although they have decided to put more money into it over the past few seasons.

The player development staff is one of the best in the league, that much can't even be debated at this point.

 

[sjeppe]

Who have we developed? Most of our team is players from other teams.

Maybe Asdrubal we did something with, but other then that i don't see anything. Our pitching Development has been horrid.

 

[Gunther]

Who have we developed? Most of our team is players from other teams.

Maybe Asdrubal we did something with, but other then that i don't see anything. Our pitching Development has been horrid.

CC Sabathia
Victor Martinez

I think they qualify as "Tribe developed". Unfortunately . . . well, you know the story.

Cliff Lee
Grady Sizemore

Acquired via trade, but still developed in our minor league system.

 

[macbdog]

There's alot of similiarities in the two situations, and Sowers is one guy that I could see going elsewhere and finally getting it together a year or two from now.

A guy who I think reminds me of the Guthrie situation is Talbot. Now he never got a shot with TB- historically good control in minors, early struggles at AAA, once appeared to get on track by wasn't given much of a shot, ran out of options. I think his stuff is more comparable to Guthrie's, too. Not saying the situation will turn out the same way but he strikes me as a good gamble by the Tribe.

 

[sjeppe]

4 players out of all that we have is not a good ratio of development. You can not win baseball games with 4 players. Some players develop despite the coaching.

 

[Gunther]

4 players out of all that we have is not a good ratio of development. You can not win baseball games with 4 players. Some players develop despite the coaching.

Could be. I just wanted to point out that there has been some success. I'm just going off the top of my head, but there are others as well. Kevin Kousmanoff and Brandon Phillips come to mind as well. Tony Sipp was drafted by the Indians. Rapheal Perez is from our system, undrafted I think.

I do get your point, though. Really too bad about Guthrie and Adam Miller. I think they were the biggest busts. Adam Miller has been a teaser for years, but can't stay healthy.

 

[sjeppe]

Yea i guess what is worse is that we either develop them or they are worthless. Maybe its overall player selection that has caused problems.

 

[Gunther]

Yea i guess what is worse is that we either develop them or they are worthless. Maybe its overall player selection that has caused problems.

Well, I don't want to come off like I'm an expert or anything, because I'm not. But I've watched baseball for so long that I sometimes feel like I know everything about it. Then I make bold predictions like I did to friends and family about the Indians being in the playoffs before last season, and I look like an idiot! :gap:

There are so many factors that go into development. I think one of the biggest things that I read over and over again is that the kid has to really want it. They have to have dedication and perseverance, and they have to work hard on all facets of their game. Then again, many of them have social or personal barriers to overcome, and some of them can't do it. And some of them simply have bad attitudes (Milton Bradley, I'm talking about you). So even though you may have a diamond in the rough like a Grady Sizemore, he may not have the desire, work ethic, and character to live up to his potential. Then there are injuries, which for some reason seem more abundant in the majors today. Maybe that is due to all of the specialization in the game today. I think a certain amount of the draft is a crapshoot, and much more so than in either basketball or football.

But, I'm not excusing the Tribe's record in the draft. It is not top notch by any means. I'm hopeful that the changes they put in place this offseason pay dividends in a few years.

 

[fudd]

I agree with b00bie, player development is great. It's hard to point fingers though when you're a small market team. As an organization all they can hope for is to fully develop their best prospects and hope that they bring a World Series before they leave us for big money.

And no need to clean house. Mark Shapiro is an artist at his craft. I won't even waste my time mentioning the things he has done that have amazed me (i.e. Carlos Santana in a trade for Casey Blake). The problem was the head coach, that's why there was a change.

 

[PIP]

I thought the title was going to say Koufax...

 

[DougHeil]

Trade him. A sack of practice balls will do in return.

 

[AZ_]

I think Sowers should start the season in the rotation.

JMO, dude is out of options.

See what he's got, if not...replace him early.